The present invention relates generally to computer security and password protection, and more particularly, relates to a reconfigurable electronic keyboard for use with desktop computer systems, mobile smartphones, and like devices, and a method to change the keyboard layout automatically of such a keyboard while entering a password.
In some desktop and mobile computer systems and like devices, e.g., a smartphone or tablet keyboard, it is often that users need to manually enter their password via a keyboard interface provided by the device—at least initially to access the device functionality in the first instance. Oftentimes, it may be inconvenient for users to enter a complex password because the keyboard cannot display the full character set at the same time. For example, on some devices, for a user to enter a complex password on a keyboard, e.g., a password “Qw3ErT4&”, the user needs to change the keyboard layout seven times to input the password character string, e.g., by selecting a shift key (or not) to alternate between the keyboard layout having upper case characters, lower case characters, and numbers as this example password “Qw3ErT4&” would require.
It would be desirable to provide a method and system that enables the keyboard layout to change automatically while a user enters the password character sequence via a soft keyboard interface.